Time’s up for the Yes2Rail blog, which I launched on June 30, 2008 as a paid consultant on Honolulu's elevated rail project. Yes2Rail’s August 13, 2012 post was its last following the author's move to Sacramento, CA. You’re invited to read four-plus years of information-packed entries, many of which are linked at our “aggregation site.” Look for the paragraph with red copy in the right-hand column, below. Mahalo for all the positive comments Yes2Rail received since its start.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

First we simply tried
blogging here, here, here, here, here, here and here about Ben Cayetano’s
refusal to reveal his bus rapid transit plan. He says he’d implement BRT after
he kills rail, so we naively thought the media would take the hint and start
asking questions about such an ambitious suggestion.

When that didn’t work, we
wrote an Open Letter to the Star-Advertiser reporter who’s covering the mayoral
race and asked him to please start asking Mr. Cayetano to explain himself. That
didn’t work either.

So you can imagine how
thrilled we were to read Atomic Monkey’s scoop yesterday. Thanks to the Monkey (and thanks for the Monkey's permission to use its cartoons),
Mr. Cayetano’s plan is revealed in all its complexity, which the story says
“incorporates a half dozen ideas and technologies that have already been
abandoned as obsolete, too dependent on imported oil, or just plain lolo.
However, the Cayetano team insists that when all used together, they
miraculously produce a superior solution."

“I always wanted to build a
tunnel somewhere,” highway expert and UH Professor Panos Prevedouros told the Monkey, “so when Ben asked me
what I wanted out of this, I jumped at it.”

You won’t find a better
parody than Atomic Monkey’s treatment of the Cayetano Campaign’s Still-Secret
Bus Rapid Transit Plan. In truth, the candidate’s failure to reveal it in full detail is
no laughing matter.

Writer Michael Levine
reminded his readers yesterday that Mr. Cayetano “…said a detailed plan would
be forthcoming in mid-April. In the weeks since that self-imposed deadline came
and went, I’ve reached out to the campaign to ask for an interview to offer him
a chance to share details in an op-ed and to invite him to come to Civil Beat
headquarters to meet with our editors.So far, no go. But some
details are slowly emerging.”

Imagine that – a politician running away from an
open invitation to provide unedited details of his campaign’s centerpiece. Any day now Star-Advertiser columnist Dave Shapiro, who devotes his space today(subscription) to yet another swipe at rail supporters, will find a way to praise Mr.
Cayetano’s opaqueness on his BRT plan.

Here It Comes

Mr. Levine then quotes from a recent interview Mr. Cayetano gave to the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle. Civil Beat
has a link to the entire article and quotes the most relevant paragraph on the
alleged BRT plan, including this gem:

“So we’ll look at running
(BRT) down King Street or Beretania Street. We may have to elevate it in
certain areas but it’ll run on the freeway, so we won’t have to create a new
elevated structure. When it enters Downtown, it will need a dedicated lane
which may require taking away some parking here and there.”

Mr. Cayetano says the system
has worked in Europe, South America and Japan, so it must be good, right? We
all appreciate Honolulu’s obvious similarities with Europe, South America and Japan.

C’mon, Atomic Monkey. Now you know Mr. Cayetano is prepared to duplicate the death knell of the
Harris Administration’s BRT plan – taking away car lanes and giving them to TheBus. We need a new cartoon – one with cars scrunched together as an empty bus rolls by in an empty bus lane. The Parody Potential is Positively Limitless!

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This Isn't Political

Yes2Rail is a blog about the Honolulu rail transit project, which has become the key issue in this year’s mayoral race. We comment on the candidates’ plans to address Oahu’s growing congestion problem and whether those plans could meet the need as well as elevated rail can and will. That’s not the same as criticizing the candidates, and we urge our readers to recognize the difference.

Another red-light runner meets Denver at-grade train, 6.13.12

Honolulu rail will be elevated, with zero possibility for accidents like those shown in this column in cities with at-grade systems. Visit our "aggregation site" for much more on why elevated rail is the only reasonable way to build Honolulu rail.

What riding the train will avoid

Bus Accident Aftermath on H-1

'Black Tuesday'--9/5/06 Crash Produced Nightmare Commute

Typical H-1 Traffic

About Me

After five years of active-duty service as an Army officer with duty stations in West Berlin and South Vietnam, reported and edited for newspapers and broadcast stations (including all-news radio) in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Honolulu. Covered Honolulu city government for the Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB-TV. Served on Congressman Cec Heftel's staff in Honolulu and Washington, then managed corporate communications and was Hawaiian Electric Company's spokesman for nearly a decade. A communications consultant for 19 years before moving to California in 2012 (Commaaina.com). Launched, produced and hosted Hawaii Public Radio's "live" weekly "Energy Futures" public affairs program in 2009-10. Authored books on The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ("Punchbowl" 1982) and on the decline of standard grammar in business and society ("Me and Him Are Killing English!" 2007). Now an information officer with the California Department of Water Resources.